McKenzie pleased with offseason so far (updated)

New Raiders general manager Reggie McKenzie has been quietly busy this offseason, but we got him Thursday at Stanford’s Pro Day. According to McKenzie, the Raiders have less than $4 million in cap space but he’s pleased with how the offseason has gone so far.

“A little bit better (than expected), because we were able to knock out a couple of areas we felt we wanted to upgrade, and fill in or solidfy,” McKenzie said. “We felt like the O-line as a group we solidified it big time by getting the two veterans back (Cooper Carlisle, Khalif Barnes) and the coaching staff would like to see Wiz move inside, see what he can do. They feel pretty good about that.”

McKenzie says Stefan Wisniewski will move to center with Carlisle at left guard and Mike Brisiel at right guard, but that could change if they find a center they can’t pass up.

Carlisle has always played right guard, but is up for the move.

“Coop feels like he can do it,” McKenzie said. “We’ll let him work this whole offseason and play in preseason, and get it down, and adding Brisiel helps. Khalif signed on today officially, so that kind of helps solidify, now we just need to add some depth.”

Besides the offensive line, McKenzie was pleased that the Raiders got “two guys that we like” in cornerbacks Ron Bartell and Shawntae Spencer. “With our cap situation, we were able to kind of solidify that position a little bit,” McKenzie said.

McKenzie said defensive coordinator Jason Tarver, who was on the 49ers staff when Spencer played there, had a lot of good things to say about the cornerback. The 49ers cut Spencer March 15 and the Raiders signed him less than week later.

“That was just icing on the cake to me,” McKenzie said. “Getting a guy like that, coming available, too, because he wasn’t a free agent at first, and then he was.”

Reggie McKenzie at Stanford's Pro Day.

Here are some more nuggets from McKenzie:

McKenzie recognized that the Raiders had no shot at re-signing running back Michael Bush, who signed with the Bears on Thursday. Bush got $14 million for 4 years, with $7 million guaranteed. “We couldn’t do that,” McKenzie said. “That’s more than what we could do. That’s the way it goes. This year, that’s what we’re up against. But we knew that.” He’s confident they’ll find his replacement in late free agency or the Draft.

On Kamerion Wimbley, who McKenzie liked but knew he could not afford: “If we kept Wimbley we wouldn’t have been able to sign any of the players I wanted. … He wanted what he wanted and we needed what we needed and it couldn’t work out. But we would have liked to have had him, but the way the contract was at the time, we just couldn’t make it work.”

Outside linebacker is the Raiders’ biggest want right now. McKenzie is confident in his ability to scout for a potential starting linebacker — even from the undrafted rookie ranks, but he would obviously prefer to find one in late free agency or the Draft. “I need to find a starting outside linebacker,” he said. “Other than that, we’ve got a guy that can line up and start at every position.”

Should the Raiders need more money, McKenzie says they could find it by restructuring or redoing deals. He mentioned Tyvon Branch as a possible candidate for that, just not right now. “Yeah, if we could do a long-term deal,” McKenzie said. “But right now we’re just going to hold fast where we are, and kind of wait on these league meetings, see what kind of compensatory picks we get. We’re gearing up for the draft.“

Finding a backup quarterback and running back are “low priority” right now. “Absolutely. I’m OK with being able find a guy,” he said. “Some guys get released that can step in and play. A lot of those situations happen.